Tony... I certainly wasn't talking about you... I meant if she... Your CFO needed to act like a bitch to get shit done... then she needs to act like a bitch.

Why did you think it was at all about you? You can post it to me in the other thread... I'm out of this one... I didn't mean to respond in this thread, but you misunderstood my statement completely, so I thought I would clarify.

Tony... I certainly wasn't talking about you... I meant if she... Your CFO needed to act like a bitch to get shit done... then she needs to act like a bitch.

Why did you think it was at all about you? You can post it to me in the other thread... I'm out of this one... I didn't mean to respond in this thread, but you misunderstood my statement completely, so I thought I would clarify.

well one b/c you said "you" and two bc i never said anything about my boss acting like a bitch...

at any rate like youve already said your opinion is based off of personal experience so if I were you I would try to look outside of your own experiences.

What is telling is the lack of leadership and degrees amongst men, while the drop out rates increase, slackerism increases, effeminate behavior increases, MMA membership increases (trying to find maleness), the neutered male role model has become popular.

Very telling, it seems that there is a concerted effert to put males in their place, and uplift women, at the cost of "maleness". Certain male qualities are looked at as bad....

It is great that women are earning degrees far more than before, my female family members are among them, but from what i have observed, many do it because of ego---to prove something, not to themselves, but to men...

And the "bitch" card---odd how a woman has to overcompensate to seem worthy, and what happens, is what is stated, they have a hard time balancing that aggressive, assertive side with the caring feminine side---which is detremental at home with their spouses...I forgot the name of the study, but it came out last yr, that even though women are making more and earning more degrees, they feel very unhappy and unfulfilled.

Truth of the matter is, balance has not been sought, a woman can have the world, she just has to go out and get it....but, when she has it, it is up to her, what type of world she wants to make it, the problem is, so many spend so much time to obtain it, that when they get it, they don't know what to do with it...which is, "to enjoy it".

The wage gap between sexes still plagues the American workforce. In 2007, the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that women earn 78 cents on a dollar for every dollar a man earns in a year.28 The gender wage gap has extreme costs for women over the course of their careers. CAP found that the average female worker loses approximately $434,000 in wages over a 40-year period as a direct result of pay inequities.29 Out of 23 Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) countries, the United States has the seventh largest gender earnings gap. The gender wage gap in the United States is 21.6%, well above the OECD average of 18.5%.30

In 2009, women’s median weekly earnings were only 80.2% of men’s median weekly earnings. For most women of color, the earnings gap was even larger:31

 African American women earned 71 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2009.32

 Hispanic and Latina women earned just 62 cents for every dollar men earned.33

 Only Asian American women’s earnings were closer to parity with men’s: in 2009, they earned 95 cents for every dollar earned by men. However, they earned 81.8% as much as Asian American men.34

The wage gap is also more pronounced for older women: in 2009, women over 25 earned 78.7% that of men in the same age group while women aged 1624 earned 92.6% as much as their male peers.35

The support and opportunity for women to pursue careers in fields like science, technology, engineering and mathematics is important for working towards pay equity. In science and engineering, for example, women are still paid less than men but tend to earn more than similarly educated women in other sectors of the workforce. The average starting salary for someone with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, for example, was just over $59,000. By comparison, the average starting salary for an individual with a bachelor’s degree in economics was just under $50,000.36

Equal pay, however, remains a problem in every occupational category, even in occupations where women considerably outnumber men. In 2009, certain professions showed a significant gap:37

 Women in professional and related occupations earned over 26% less than their male counterparts, while women in sales and office occupations earned 20% less than similarly employed men.

 Female elementary and middle school teachers earned over 14% less than similarly employed men, despite comprising almost 82% of the field.38

 Female registered nurses earned more than 5% less than their male colleagues, although over 90% of nurses are women.39

 Female physicians and surgeons earned a whopping 36% less than their male counterparts.

 Female college and university teachers earned over 15% less than those who were male.

 Female lawyers earned 25% less than male lawyers.

Women also earn less at every level of education. For full-time workers aged 25 and older in 2007:

 The median annual earnings of a female high school graduate was 26% less than that of her male counterpart.

 The median annual earnings of a woman with a bachelor’s degree was almost 25% (or on average $16,058) less than that of a similarly qualified man.

 Women are more likely to complete graduate education. A woman with a master’s degree earned 25% (or on average $19,250) less than a man with a master’s degree.

 The median annual earnings for a woman with a professional degree was $65,912 while men earned over $90,000.

 A woman with a doctoral degree earned more than 22% (or on average $18,054) less than a similarly qualified man.40

 According to a recent report by the American Association of University Women, women who attended highly selective colleges earn less than men from either highly or moderately selective colleges and about the same as men from minimally selective colleges.

 Men and women remain segregated by college major, with women making up 79% of education majors and men making up 82% of engineering majors. This segregation is found in the workplace as well, where women make up 74% of the education field and men make up 84% of the engineering and architecture fields.41

 According to a study by the Center for American Progress, women at all educational levels suffer long term affects from the wage gap. Women with less than a high school diploma will earn on average $270,000 less over a 40 year time period than their male counterparts. The differences are even larger as educational attainment grows. Women with a high school degree will earn, on average, $392,000 less, women with some college will earn $452,000 less, and women with a bachelor’s degree or higher will earn $713,000 less than their male counterparts over a 40-year period.42

Because women are paid less when they work, they receive smaller Social Security benefits when they retire:

 Women represent 57% of all Social Security beneficiaries age 62 and older and approximately 69% of beneficiaries age 85 and older.43

 In 2006, the average Social Security income received by women 65 years and older was $10,685, compared with $14,055 for men.44

 In 2007, 47% of unmarried women receiving Social Security benefits relied on Social Security for 90% or more of their income.45

 In 2006, the average Social Security retirement benefit was 25.5% smaller for women than men. Sixty-eight point seven percent of women receive a monthly benefit of under $1,000 while 70% of men receive more than $1,000 per month.46

 In 2007, for unmarried women age 65 and older, Social Security comprised 48% of their total income. In contrast, Social Security benefits comprised only 37% of unmarried elderly men’s income and only 30% of elderly couples’ income.47

 In 2006, only 29.2% of women 65 and older received any form of pension or annuity income and the median amount was $6,420. For men, 43.8% received pensions or annuity income and the median amount was $12,000.48

 The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) estimates that unmarried women receive approximately $8,000 less in annual retirement income than their male counterparts. Two-thirds of this disparity is directly attributable to the wage gap and employment segregation.50

 Participation in employer-sponsored retirement plans is increasing for women in today’s workforce. In 2007, 52.6% of women employed full-time participated in an employer- sponsored plan compared to 51.6% of men. Women generally receive lower pensibenefits due to their relatively lower earnings.49

All explained by the choices women make, not by any inherent bias in pay towards women; if women really did 'inherently' get less, companies would be firing men left and right to pay women less because it would be more profitable for them to do so.

Are women just as capable as men in business and politics? From a discussion on the Politics board. Interested in what some of the women think about this?

I think some are just as capable and some are more capable ... depending on the woman .. I think having a female President is not a grand idea due to how some other parts of the world perceive women .. it's a hard enough position without having to deal with misogynist peers / adversaries

In some family business' I've seen women be held back from leadership roles in order to give the positions to up and coming males .. I think "old-fashioned " ideas of how women are not cut out for it and that men need to be the bread winners and bosses are still very active and alive .. that is something that hinders some women from showing their worth and aptitude

"You know what? I am actually not that much into voting. I think it's kind of crazy that a woman is running because I think that women deal with a lot of emotions and menopause and PMS and stuff. Like, I'm so moody all the time, I know I couldn't be able to run a country, because I would be crying one day and yelling at people the next day, you know?" - Brooke Hogan

"You know what? I am actually not that much into voting. I think it's kind of crazy that a woman is running because I think that women deal with a lot of emotions and menopause and PMS and stuff. Like, I'm so moody all the time, I know I couldn't be able to run a country, because I would be crying one day and yelling at people the next day, you know?" - Brooke Hogan

quel surprise !! .. I'm over the moon that I don't have to think about her or her ilk running for public office

BTW, I have no problems with a woman being USA's president, but so far I've been disappointed with women in US politics: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Jan Brewerm, Christine O'Donnell, Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi, etc.

They all have given me the impression that they are either lying hags, or ignorant, uneducated dumb witches.

The only woman in US politics who has so far not given me that impression is Condoleezza Rice. She seems to me like she would make a good US president.

"You know what? I am actually not that much into voting. I think it's kind of crazy that a woman is running because I think that women deal with a lot of emotions and menopause and PMS and stuff. Like, I'm so moody all the time, I know I couldn't be able to run a country, because I would be crying one day and yelling at people the next day, you know?" - Brooke Hogan

Two female acquisition officers to get second starSeptember 1, 2011By Kris Osborn, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 1, 2011) -- Two female Army acquisition officers have been tapped for promotion to the rank of major general.

"The fact that they are accomplished in their respective fields is the key point. They just happen to be women Soldiers," said Heidi Shyu, acting assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. "Both of them have done tremendously well in their careers. Talking to both of them, you realize their dedication and their focus on doing the right thing for Soldiers."

Brig. Gen. Camille M. Nichols, Program Executive Officer-Soldier, and Brig. Gen. N. Lee S. Price, Program Executive Officer-Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, were nominated in June for promotion by Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta.

Both Shyu and Lt. Gen. Bill Phillips, the military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, praised the individual merits of Nichols and Price, while also pointing out that, not too long ago, there were not as many women general officers in the Army ranks.

"What's important to know is they didn't get a lower bar to jump over. They met the same bar and they have succeeded in their careers as a result of it," said Shyu, who pointed out that there were not as many female leaders when she began her own career.

In fact, in 1990 there were only four female generals in the entire Army. Last year, there were 44. Today, there are six female major generals on active duty in the Army, two lieutenant generals and one general. The National Guard has two female two-stars and the Army Reserve has one female two-star.

Nichols has embodied values of Army excellence throughout numerous leadership positions during her career. A graduate of West Point in 1981, Nichols has more than 20 years of experience in Department of Defense acquisition.

"I enlisted in the Army to 'be all that I could be', and I have been both blessed and amazed by the institution's ability to see potential in me and provide me the opportunity to work with and for such great people," Nichols said. "I am honored and humbled to be in this position and am committed to serve our Army and work tirelessly to honor the memory of those who have sacrificed so much for our country."

As the PEO Soldier, Nichols has been immersed in a range of key developmental programs such as the Improved Carbine competition, Individual Gunshot Detection, body armor technologies and ongoing efforts to lighten the load Soldiers carry in theater.

Price said effective leaders are ones who inspire individuals to excel as a team member.

"For me, it has always been about the team," Price said. "I truly believe that if you take care of people, then the people will take care of the mission. The mission comes first and it is the number one thing that we are judged by. But it takes people -- the Army is people."

Price has spent 36 years in the Army, and is the only female selected for the rank of general officer while serving the special operations community.

As the PEO C3T, Price has been managing the acquisition and development of a host of key communications programs and emerging technologies. Her office was heavily involved in successfully integrating technologies for the recent network integration exercise this past July, where six programs were placed under formal test and as many as 29 emerging technologies were evaluated from a system-of-systems perspective.

Men who argue against this are the types in college classes who take the "feminist" side of any debate, in an effort to "get in good" with the girls. It works to a point; the girls all love these guys...as a brother and friend. Then, after class, they let their alpha boyfriends have their way with them while these poor schmucks return to their dorm rooms alone.

Men who argue against this are the types in college classes who take the "feminist" side of any debate, in an effort to "get in good" with the girls. It works to a point; the girls all love these guys...as a brother and friend. Then, after class, they let their alpha boyfriends have their way with them while these poor schmucks return to their dorm rooms alone.

Men who argue against this are the types in college classes who take the "feminist" side of any debate, in an effort to "get in good" with the girls. It works to a point; the girls all love these guys...as a brother and friend. Then, after class, they let their alpha boyfriends have their way with them while these poor schmucks return to their dorm rooms alone.

Obviously I'll need to reread this entire thread in order to respond coherently. Which I will do.

I'm British but lived in Canada in the early 80s so I missed Maggie Thatcher British Prime Minister...

She's had dreadful press but I'm not sure. We still had silly off-shore wars then (the Falklands) but...

It turns out she was in fact rather good as a PM (Conservative and nouveau Capitalist ((there are theories that she had the left brain of a bloke but that's a joke?

Dunno

I doubt a female bus driver or aeroplane pilot is any the less capable than a male one but I've never been a feminist. Men are better at most things as they're more logical and physical.

Does anyone really believe that if women had regularly or often held Presidential or Prime Ministerial executive positions in politics or in the military and/or in the financial world there would have been no wars and no recessions?

That's what they say, they say women would emote more and emanate and empathasise more, but I'm not sure

This young child/woman aspires to be famous for absolutely nothing whatsoever, either that or to be a WAG (a footballer or popsingers girlfriend or wife or baby mother).

I've never been able to have a proper conversation with this girl, other than once when she was 14 and threatening to lose her virginity: I told her how precious and wonderful it is to save it and cherish a wonderful memory and do it properly when you're ready and have planned it, found a beautiful man, sorted birth control and you're about 15 or 16.

Not sure if she's yet popped her cherry, or how she decided to go about it, that was the only serious chat I ever had with that spoilt brat.

This young woman has had a privileged upbringing, private schools at £3,000 per term, everything she's ever wanted, spoilt rotten and she's completely daft. Totally incapable if you ask me.

I lately told her how we burned our bras in the 60s (obviously I was lying, I'm not that old) and that the sufferagettes chained themselves to the railings at Parliament for the vote years before that, but she hasn't got a clue what I'm on about, she wants to be in a girlie band or marry a footballer and have his ugly kids. She wants a boob job, that's what she thinks is aspirational. I blame the parents.

Joke.

Female children nowadays have been sexualised and sold out. They've no idea what they ought do. They want hair extensions and fake tans. No hope for this next generation, they all want to be famous whatshername with the fake tits...

xL

My generation strove for equality and almost achieved it in the 80's and 90s yet we must now sit back and quiver in our boots watching this shit-brained new lot further wreck men's egos?

I work in a male dominated career field that only in the last 20 yrs has really opened up to females. I've had 4 female bosses over the years. 2 were great, 1 was horrible and 1 was just below average. My career field butts up against another that is majority female. I was surprised to hear many different times that the women preferred males bosses over female bosses because of less drama, more fair workplace treatment, and consistency.

On a side note, at one time my shift that I supervised held the department record for the most females at one time. 5 of the 10 officers I had working for me were female. It surprised many officers that my shift led the other 2 evening shifts in the same district/sector in felony and DWI arrests as well as activity in several other areas. I can also say there was no more drama than any other shift I had worked with.

Women leading men in CEO pay16 top females had salaries 43% higher than male averageBy Alexis LeondisBloomberg News Service

Chief executive officers' pay is shattering the glass ceiling.

Boosted by a $47.2 million package for Carol Bartz of Yahoo! Inc. and $26.3 million for Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods Inc., compensation for female CEOs at the biggest U.S. companies is booming.

Sixteen women heading companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index averaged earnings of $14.2 million in their latest fiscal years, 43 percent more than the male average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News from proxy filings. The women who were also CEOs in 2008 got a 19 percent raise in 2009 — while the men took a 5 percent cut.

"When you see numbers like this, one can truly say that the glass ceiling in corporate America has been shattered," said Frank Glassner, CEO of San Francisco-based Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants LLC. "I don't remember seeing women ever getting paid more than men."

Graef Crystal, a pay expert who analyzed the data for Bloomberg News, said that "compensation committees are saying we don't want to have any trouble" over underpaying women, "so if we err, let's err on the side of giving them too much."

Darwinian competition is also playing a role, said Sheila Wellington, a professor of management and organizations at New York University who studies women business leaders.

"These are the strongest, fittest and toughest who survive," according to Wellington, who said she was offered half the salary of male peers for her first job at a mental health facility in 1968. "They've had to negotiate all the way up the ladder."

FORTUNE -- Here is what Carol Bartz thinks of the Yahoo (YHOO) board that fired her: "These people fucked me over," she says, in her first interview since her dismissal from the CEO role late Tuesday.

Last evening, barely 24 hours after Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock called Bartz on her cell phone to tell her the news, she called from her Silicon Valley home ("There are reporters at the gate… a lot of them.") to tell Fortune, exclusively, how the ax came down.

On Tuesday, Bartz was in New York, to speak at Citigroup's (C) technology conference the next day, when she was supposed to call Bostock at 6 p.m. "I called him at 6:06," she recalls. When he got on the line, she says, he started reading a lawyer's prepared statement to dismiss her.

"I said, 'Roy, I think that's a script,'" adding, "'Why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?'"

When Bostock finished reading, Bartz didn't argue—"I got it. I got it," she told the Yahoo chairman. "I thought you were classier," she added.Recruited in January 2009 after successfully building Autodesk (ADSK), Bartz never was the turnaround chief that the Yahoo board had wanted. Though she slashed costs and improved profit margins, she failed to improve revenue growth at a critical time when Yahoo has lost eyeballs and ad dollars to Google (GOOG) and Facebook. "They want revenue growth," says Bartz about the Yahoo board, "even though they were told that we would not have revenue growth until 2012."

As Bartz sees it, Yahoo's search partnership with Microsoft (MSFT)—a deal she negotiated two years ago to offload costs—has Yahoo paying Microsoft 12% of its search revenue and limits current growth but will help the company long-term. She attributes the directors' impatience to the criticism they faced when they turned down a lucrative deal to sell Yahoo to Microsoft in 2007, before she arrived. "The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country," Bartz says. "Now they're trying to show that they're not the doofuses that they are." (Bostock, who is vice chairman of Delta Air Lines (DAL) and on Morgan Stanley's (MS) board as well as Yahoo's, declined to comment.)After Tuesday's call from Bostock, Bartz says, she had two hours to let Yahoo know whether she would resign or allow the board to fire her. She called her husband, Bill, her three children--a son and two daughters—and her longtime assistant, Judy Flores. Learning that Yahoo's lawyers had gone to the St. Regis hotel to hand her papers, she ditched that hotel and booked herself into another. "Am I stupid?!" she asks, making clear that she took her career crisis into her own hands.

It was that evening when she pulled out her iPad and wrote an email to Yahoo's 14,000 employees:To all, I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.

Carol

What does Bartz think of her successor, Tim Morse? "He's a great guy," she says. Morse was chief financial officer under Bartz, and now he is interim chief of a company whose stock has risen 6% since he replaced her. Asked whom she thinks the board might appoint long-term, she replies, "They should bring me in. I knew what to do."

Sometimes it's difficult to know when Bartz is being serious. As I prod her to tell me what she might do next, I mention her age, 63—"fuck you, yeah," she replies. And when I ask her if she's on any other public company boards besides Cisco (CSCO), where she is lead independent director, she says, "I'm on Yahoo's board." She tells me that she plans to remain a Yahoo director—which might be unlikely since she has now called her fellow directors "doofuses."

"I want to make sure that the employees don't believe that I've abandoned them. I would never abandon them," Bartz says. Besides, she adds, "I have way too many purple clothes."

She's referring to the color of Yahoo's logo. "I wish the Yahoo people the best," she adds, "because it's a fantastic franchise."

===========================================

Well, I guess she's not only delusional, but also retarded... Sure the board is going to bring her right back in.

Where is Beach Bum through all of this?

He's been on Carol's nuts for awhile now, but as I showed him prior to all of this, Carol Bartz has done nothing.

(PS... I would have left this thread alone, but it got bumped, so... eh... why not.)

Yes, Chief Master Sergeant!After 20 years in Hawaii with the Air National Guard, Chief Master Sgt. Denise Jelinski-Hall is at the Pentagon , serving as Senior Enlisted Leader for the National Guard. She’ll be back in Honolulu Sept. 20 to speak at the annual Hawaii’s International Women’s Leadership ConferenceChristina O'ConnorWednesday - September 14, 2011By Christina O’Connor

At a White House party with husband Gary Hall and daughter Ashley. Photos from Gary Hall and Denise Jelinski-Hall

Chief Master Sgt. Denise Jelinski-Hall returns to Hawaii next week to speak at the International Women’s Leadership Conference

In the early 1980s, a twenty-something Denise Jelinski-Hall was staring down the perennial question of all twenty-somethings: What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

Jelinski-Hall had been working at a bank in her hometown of Little Falls, Minn., for the last five years. And while she liked the job, it didn’t take her long to realize that there was no opportunity for advancement. She had known a woman through the bank who was in the Army National Guard, and the two had become friends over the years. One day, this woman came into the bank, and she said, “Denise, you gotta join the Air Force and get out of here.”

Jelinski-Hall had never thought about enlisting, but the two drove to the next city to check out an active duty site. There, JelinskiHall talked to a recruiter and was immediately sold on the idea.

“I thought about it and decided it would be a great opportunity to serve my country, have educational benefits and do some traveling,” Jelinski-Hall recalls. “It all sounded really good ... and I listened to my instincts. Six weeks later I was off to basic training. I sold my car, I sold my furniture, and off I went.”

That question of what she would do with the rest of her life would end up having an increasingly impressive answer. Now, about 25 years after she set off for basic training, that young woman has become a high-ranking enlisted person in a notoriously maledominated field. She established herself as a standout leader early on. Then, while stationed on Oahu for 20 years, Jelinski-Hall climbed the ranks in a variety of organizations.

In November of 2009, she was named the Senior Enlisted Leader for the National Guard Bureau. In this position, Chief Master Sgt. Jelinski-Hall is responsible for advising the Chief of the National Guard Bureau on all professional matters affecting enlisted National Guard Soldiers and Airmen, including training, enlisted development, proper utilization and health of the force.

And next week, JelinskiHall returns to Hawaii which she still calls home as one of the speakers at the International Women’s Leadership Conference Sept. 20 at Sheraton Waikiki Hotel and Resort. This year’s theme is “Growing Our Future: Investing In Women.” The conference began in 2003 after Gov. Linda Lingle and senior adviser Lenny Klompus attended a similar event in Japan.

“When we walked out of the event, we thought how wonderful it would be if the women of Hawaii would be able to hear these women,” Klompus recalls. “I was inspired what they had to overcome to get to their particular positions.”

Jelinski-Hall is living proof that there are no predetermining factors for success that what you put in is what you’ll get out. And what she put in has been hard, unwavering work. And lots of it.

Little Falls, Minn., Jelinski-Hall’s childhood stomping ground, is a small rural farming community right in the middle of the state. She grew up on a farm with her parents and five siblings. It was there that Jelinski-Hall cultivated a commitment to hard work.

“My parents taught us a very strong work ethic,” she says. “Growing up on a farm, you learn how to work ... I credit my father particularly; he really taught us a strong work ethic and perseverance and to give an honest day’s work.”

But while her upbringing was conducive to rich values, her educational background was modest. “I didn’t have a real strong educational background,” she says. “I went to a schoolhouse much like Little House on the Prairie ... It was a oneroom schoolhouse in the middle of the country, and we had one teacher who taught all the subjects for all the grades.”

Trading in banking for basic training, Jelinski-Hall began her dynamic rise to the top. Almost immediately, she was pinpointed as a leader in basic training her drill instructor named her the unit’s dorm chief. That means, whenever the instructor was away, JelinskiHall was responsible at the dorm.

After basic training, Jelinski-Hall was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, where she went through Air Traffic Control school. While she excelled in her studies, she says that her achievements were certainly the product of determination and selfdiscipline. “I enjoyed it ... but for me it was difficult,” she says. “I had to really apply myself and study hard. Many, many nights I was the one at 3:30 in the morning under my blanket with a flashlight studying. When weekends came I stayed on base and continued to study. I was driven to do the best I could, so I did what I needed to do to succeed.”

From there, Jelinski-Hall was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where she met her husband, Gary Hall, who was then on active duty in the Marine Corps. To ensure that they could be stationed together, Jelinski-Hall went from active duty to the Air National Guard. She worked for three years as a ground radio operator with the California Air National Guard. In 1990, Gary received orders to Hawaii, and the couple, along with their young daughter Ashley, moved to Aiea.

“It was a good assignment for him, and it was great for me because they had Air Traffic Control at Barber’s Point. I was very excited about getting reconnected with ATC,” she says about the move to the Islands. She spent the next 12 years at Air Traffic Control Flight. From there, another slew of accomplishments followed she went through combat airspace management courses, worked as the combat airspace manager assigned to the HQ 201st Combat Communications Group, Hickam AFB, served as the command chief master sergeant for the 154th Wing, Hawaii Air National Guard and then as the command chief master sergeant for the Hawaii Air National Guard, as well as the senior enlisted leader for the Hawaii National Guard, meaning that she served as an adviser for both the Air National Guard and the Army National Guard.

“It was an honor and a privilege and very rewarding to work with our enlisted airmen. My goals were to try to better programs, policy and affect change. I was determined to help elevate the enlisted corps ... (and to) raise the bar to a higher standard,” Jelinski-Hall says of her work as command chief.

Along the way, JelinskiHall also deployed to various locations, including Korea and Japan, for exercises. And in early 2007, she had what she remembers as one of the pinnacles of her career: She deployed to Qatar to conduct combat airspace management. She was responsible for designing the airspace for fighters, reconnaissance, intelligence, helicopter traffic and all types of air traffic conducting missions.

Although Jelinski-Hall hopes that her story can show that anybody can achieve success regardless of their background, she says that being a woman has little to do with that.

“That I am a female, it’s never been about that for me ... It’s about being the airman and continually striving to be the best airman you can be, whether you are male or female.”

However, she acknowledges that, “When you look at the numbers, at the demographics and the leadership around the table, you can clearly see that females are underrepresented.”

Despite gender gaps, Jelinski-Hall has treated this fact as a source of motivation rather than hindrance.

“Females should not view the situation as a negative, but as another chance to grow and move forward. Is it a challenge, yes. Will it require hard work and a determined effort? Most certainly.”

Jelinski-Hall admits that all that hard work and determined effort has come at a price, and that oftentimes she cannot balance her work and family life as much as she’d like.

“You have to know that you are not going to be able to keep that balance as much as you want to,” she says. “You are on the road a lot. So what are you giving up? You are giving up a lot of family time, there’s no doubt about it.”

Nonetheless, Jelinski-Hall says that she wouldn’t have it any other way. Now serving at the Pentagon, with her proud, supportive husband and her equally proud and supportive daughter alongside, Jelinski-Hall seems to have done it all.

“I have just never let it become part of the equation, the fact that I was female. I worked hard. I did the best job I could possibly do ... I let my record speak for itself.”

At the IWLC, JelinskiHall takes the stage with a number of other women who are noted in fields ranging from business to nonprofits to politics. Speakers include Elim Chew, founder and president of the largest retail chain in Singapore; Julie Gilbert, the founder and CEO of a consulting company who also is credited with doubling Best Buy’s sales during her time as the company’s senior vice president; and Lesley Jane Seymour, editor in chief of More magazine.

Registration for the conference closes Sept. 18, and organizers recommend that you sign up as soon as possible, as walk-up registration will not be permitted. Breakfast and registration start at 7:30 a.m., and the event runs until 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $195. Log on to iwlchi.org to register or for more information.

“I am excited to come back home and be involved with this conference,” Jelinski-Hall says.

She is mainly looking forward to the inspiration and motivation that it can provide to attendees.

“This conference touches high school girls, college women, business women military women and moms ... I think they really walk away with the belief that if they do the right thing, if they work hard, that they can achieve their goals. I think many of them will realize their full potential is beyond what they perceived it to be when the conference first began.”